~ A site for my creative writing endeavors, writing prompt responses, and experimentation.

This Election Will Tell Us About Ourselves

For those of us who are white males, our whiteness gives us privilege. Yes, I know you were born poor (like me) and worked hard to achieve all you have achieved in your life (like me), but we still grew up privileged (like me). Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with being a white male; after all, we can’t change our whiteness. We don’t have to apologize for being white, or male. No one is asking you to. White males are not under attack. Get over it. The very fact that white males feel they (we) are being somehow singled out for abuse is in itself a sign of that privilege.

Others might be shocked to discover that racism still exists in this country. Worse, it is a driving force for the Republican party in the last decade, along with bigotry and dishonesty. No, no, no, you cry. That’s not true. Um, sorry, it is true. And it’s blatantly obvious to anyone paying attention. The reason why the Republican party carps about “the wall” and “illegal immigration” isn’t because we have a meaningful solution, it’s because it riles up the white folks, most especially in the South. Oh no, now I’m accusing the South of being racist. Look around you. See the Confederate flags? They signified a group of states who committed treason, rebelling against the United States because there was growing distaste for slavery, the foundation of southern society. See the Confederate statues? They weren’t put up to honor Confederate “heroes” (who were fighting against the United States to protect slavery), they were put up by white supremacy organizations to warn “the blacks” that whites still reigned supreme over them even if “the government” outlawed slavery. See the Nazi symbols? Do you not remember we, i.e., the United States and the free world, fought an entire war to topple the Nazis? This isn’t hard, folks. White supremacy in all its forms has become the backbone of the Republican party. That conflicts with the notion that America is the home of the free (that means everyone, not just the people that look like you).

For women who voted for Trump and others in the Republican party, the past two years might have come as a shock. The Republican party has worked hard to take away the rights of women. Yes, even the rights of white women. The white male privilege extends to white women, but only to an extent. Sometimes being a woman is enough to be targeted by the Republican party. In fact, it’s been part of the Republican party’s platform for decades.

By the way, I’m not a “Democrat” or “Republican” or “Democratic Socialist” or “liberal” or “conservative” or any other lazy label that allows people to rubber stamp whatever position their tribe has been assigned. I’m a scientist, a historian, and someone who always tries to make decisions based on facts. So while I’m highly critical of the institutionalized dishonesty and corruption of the current Republican party, I would love to spend my time debating the issues and finding solutions rather than having to constantly correct the blatant lies of the Republican party. And don’t give me the dishonest “both parties are the same” garbage – this past two years has proven beyond any doubt that one party cares about all Americans while the other only cares about the rich. The fact that I don’t even have to specify which is which tells you how true that statement is.

Only by killing the current Republican party can the former “party of Lincoln” have any chance of ever be esteemed by Lincoln or anyone else. Today’s Republican party is a doomsday cult whose sole purpose as a party is to shift money from 95% of taxpayers to the 1% richest people. That’s why they intentionally created an additional $1.5 Trillion in new debt to give rich people a huge tax break neither the rich nor the country needed, then immediately blamed their own deficit on social security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They did this intentionally. And if you look back at the last several decades, the Republican party had been fiscally dishonest the entire time. Republicans build up debt and crash the economy; Democrats fix the economy and lower the debt. Today’s economy is merely an extension of the Obama recovery from the Republican crash. Proven. Obvious. No honest person can deny it. That’s how dishonest the Republican party has become. After years of telling Americans how bad the economy is, the Republican party is now taking credit for the economy they were trashing, all while having done nothing to change its trajectory.

This election will tell us whether we are a nation of racists or a nation of freedom. This election will tell us whether we believe in honesty and integrity. This election will tell us if we are honest enough to admit that we made a huge mistake and are willing to make amends and start over.

Most importantly, the decision you make on this election day will tell us about YOU. It will tell us if you are American. Yes, I said it. This election will tell us whether you believe in “all men are created equal” or that some men – and women – are worth less than other men.

We all make mistakes. This is your chance to correct it.

If you voted for any Republican in the past, you can correct it by voting for every Democrat in this election. To save the Republican party you must first kill the dishonest cult it has become.

If you are a Democrat who voted for Obama in 2008 and/or 2012 but didn’t vote for Clinton in 2016, you can correct it by voting for the Democrat in every office up for election this year.

If you chose not to vote, you can correct it by voting. Only by voting can you make change. There is a reason that the Republican party puts so much effort into suppressing your right to vote – because voting would kill their party. So the Republican party passes Jim Crow-like laws, arbitrarily removes people from the registration roles, sends out false information, lies in political advertising, and as we’ve just seen, promotes racism and bigotry to rile its voters to the polls. YOU must vote. Only by overwhelming the polls with votes can we change the Republican culture of corruption and voter suppression.

Voting is how we change things. Voting is how we correct previous mistakes. There is no other way.

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10 thoughts on “This Election Will Tell Us About Ourselves”

I did vote (all blue down the ballot). I voted for human decency. I voted because hatred and fear is no way to rule a nation. I voted because every human deserves to be treated fairly, with compassion and consideration.

Here’s hoping I’m pleasantly surprised in the country that, I felt, kicked me in the gut in 2016.

Also, and it doesn’t get enough play, I care about the environment, global warming of course is a huge concern ignored by the Republican party, but also toxins and mistreatment, the raping of our federal lands for profit. My father died of cancer wandering through every toxic muck in this country to try to help the rest of us when he worked in EPA. When I see what they’ve done to the protections for preserving the health and well-being of the citizenry for money, I could weep.

No one who puts a price tag on human decency should be in a position of power.

This is one area where the Republican party has demonstrated the extent of its institutionalized dishonesty and corruption. They must be excised, as Lincoln said, like “a cancer, a wen.” Then we can have honest movement dealing with climate change and other issues.

Racism (and pretty much all other isms of that ilk) will be with us forever I think. However, that does not mean that we have to succumb to it (them). Rather, I think, we have to acknowledge their prevalence and work to be less pigheaded about superficial stuff.

We have come a long way, but criticizing Obama for being “smug” in the midst of the most self-congratulatory and dishonest administration in memory is purely racist sentiment.

Unfortunately, as humans, we are a creature of fear. But racism is an artificial fear that we intentionally created to subjugate a subset of our population. As such, we can rid ourselves of it. All it takes is for oppressors to stop feeling so insecure and accept that our nation is built on the concept that “all men are created equal.”

I seem to be a little late this party. Probably just as well, but I’ve been reading through the results in my home state this morning (still observing from a safe distance). Quite interesting, and apparently somewhat in opposition to the rest of the country as a whole.

Most disappointingly, we have apparently kept our lone Red representative (from my district), whom I consider to be a blatant liar and sociopath. One of my two candidate contributions this year was to his opponent, who I feel is a decent person. As for our now deposed Red senator, I am deeply concerned about his replacement. I hope she’s less of a pandering corruptly-moneyed insider than she appears.

At the state level, I was surprised to see an almost entirely Red state go almost entirely Blue. Even the long-shot candidate for AG, who was my only other candidate contribution recipient, managed to win. Along with the overwhelming “NO” regarding a state electricity deregulation initiative, I think it represents a resistance to attempts at some old-boy privatization of the state’s social and utility infrastructure. I will say, however, that the Republican candidate for governor made an excellent concession speech, encouraging the state to come together behind our new governor.

Overall turnout state-wide was 22.91%, though the state’s most affluent county boasted nearly twice that. There is a very large minority voter base in the state, especially in the south. But I don’t think anyone even bothers trying to mobilize it anymore… even our pandering Blue Senate candidate focused elsewhere. Oh well.

I’m under no delusions that I’m doing much more than talking to myself here, so even late comments are appreciated. 🙂

The fact that blatant lying and sociopathy isn’t immediately disqualifying is not unexpected but still disheartening. Glad to hear that the Republican loser for Governor called for unity behind his winning Democratic opponent. I hope it was both heartfelt and taken to heart by his supporters.

I don’t know much about the (apparently) new Democratic senator (I can only research so many people and she wasn’t one of them). Based on her Wiki page she seems rather pedestrian and not particularly an “insider” given her single congressional term (though she did seem to have Harry Reid’s blessings, which I suppose is the basis for the insider idea). I’m surprised (shocked, really) to hear you say she largely ignored the large minority base in the southern part of the state, both given that that is her congressional district and the importance of minority voting to the Democratic party. Perhaps she understood she already had their support and was reaching out to those elsewhere who would become part of her constituency as a senator?

Trump’s (and the Republican party’s and their propaganda outlets like Fox News) focus on the “caravan” in recent weeks had two purposes: rile up the racist/bigot elements that are the Republican base, and intimidate Hispanics so they would be afraid of voting. These are the same reasons why Republicans spend so much time carping on “illegals” and immigrants – stir their base to vote, and suppress the votes of minorities.

BTW, I put up a “day after” post this morning that you probably also will find areas of agreement and disagreement. Methinks, however, that my continuing devolution into exasperation is going to be unproductive in the long run so I’m looking to find a way to encourage more positive discourse. Still, and this is the basis of my angst, how do you have a constructive conversation with people/a party that has institutionalized Anti-Americanism as a short-term means of creating a long-term dystopia that favors them?

I hope you’re enjoying your safe distance. I’ll be starting a couple of weeks of very busy domestic traveling shortly, followed by a few weeks of being off-the-grid, but I’m looking forward to seeing insights and photos on more positive/informative topics.